Alpha Sculptoris, Latinized from α Sculptoris, is the

Bayer designation A Bayer designation is a stellar designation in which a specific star is identified by a Greek or Latin letter followed by the genitive form of its parent constellation's Latin name. The original list of Bayer designations contained 1,564 stars. ...

for a blue-white

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

in the southern

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the e ...

Sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. It has an apparent visual magnitude of +4.30, which makes it the

brightest star ''Brightest Star'' is the debut mini-album from J-pop vocal group Bright. This was their first CD released under major label Rhythm Zone (RZN) is a record label in the Avex Group that releases urban contemporary Japanese music. History Th ...

in this generally faint constellation.

Parallax Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to foreshortening, nearby objects ...

measurements collected during the

Hipparcos ''Hipparcos'' was a scientific satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA), launched in 1989 and operated until 1993. It was the first space experiment devoted to precision astrometry, the accurate measurement of the positions of celestial obj ...

mission provide a distance estimate for this star, placing it at roughly , with a 4% margin of error. Alpha Sculptoris is a B-type giant star. It is classified as an SX Arietis type

variable star A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are classified as ...

and its magnitude varies by less than a tenth of a magnitude. The

luminosity Luminosity is an absolute measure of radiated electromagnetic power (light), the radiant power emitted by a light-emitting object over time. In astronomy, luminosity is the total amount of electromagnetic energy emitted per unit of time by a st ...

of α Scl is around 1,500 times that of the Sun while its surface temperature is 13,600 K. The radius of Alpha Sculptoris is calculated to be seven times solar while its

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

is five times that of the Sun.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alpha Sculptoris Sculptoris, Alpha Sculptor (constellation) B-type giants SX Arietis variables 0280 005737 004577 CD-30 00297 Ap stars